Fantastic photograph taken at Clydebank, Scotland, c.1949. Thank you to Herb Ford, author of “Pitcairn - Port of Call” for the following information:
“This would have been Ruahine III (both I and II were built at a different yard – Wm. Denny & Bros, Dumbarton) and she was launched on December 11, 1950, so the photo would most likely have been taken in 1949, given the degree of completeness shown; can’t get closer to an exact date for you than that.
“Ruahine III made her maiden voyage from London to Wellington on May 22, 1951, after having been handed over to the NZSC (which was actually the New Zealand Shipping and Federal Steam Navigation Company) on May 3, 1951.
“In 1968, after having been transferred to Federal ownership in 1967, she was sold to C. Y. Tung’s Orient Overseas Line, Hong Kong. She was renamed Oriental Rio. In 1969 she left Hong Kong on the Round the World Service.
“This great ship arrived at Kaohsiung for scrapping on December 31, 1973.”
External link: The story of the Clyde Bank Shipyard.